Case Study: Sort Product with the MARTIN® NTK® Oscillator

Problem

A maintenance manager of a mushroom farm in Illinois approached us with a problem with their slicing mechanism. The operation produces in excess of 24 million pounds of mushrooms per year. These are the white and brown “button” mushrooms you can find in any supermarket. They are packaged both whole and sliced.

Situation

Their slicing operation was causing problems because the mushrooms are sliced into thin strips by an automatic machine and there was no way to separate the very small pieces from the usable slices. They needed to find a way to separate the strips from the undersized parts.

Solution

The finished product is essentially a screening unit made of Teflon-coated stainless steel with 5/8″ diameter perforations. The screen, powered by a MARTIN^® NTK^® Oscillator (NTK-40) with a two-pound weight attached, is mounted on fiberglass springs and sits about 40″ off the floor on an epoxy-painted steel base. A stainless-steel can placed underneath catches the undersized pieces.